'Boring jobs can lead to burn-out'

'Boring jobs can lead to burn-out'

Finding your job monotonous? It's time you should try for a change, as it may make you vulnerable to 'burn-out', psychiatrists say.

The researchers at the University of Zaragoza in Spain believe that there is a distinct category of 'underchallenged' employees who end up finding they simply cannot take any more of the 'monotonous and unstimulating' tasks that they are expected to perform.

Such people 'have to cope with the disenchantment caused by feeling trapped in an occupational activity to which they are indifferent, which bores them and produces no gratification', lead author Jesus Montero-Marin was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.

'Boring jobs can lead to burn-out'

They carried out a study in which 400 employees of the University of Zaragoza were questioned about their job and how happy they are with their profession.

They categorised two types of burn-out: 'frenetic', in which the employee works 'increasingly harder to the point of exhaustion'; and 'worn-out', where workers 'give up when faced with stress or lack of gratification'.

Unsurprisingly, those who worked longer hours were found more likely to suffer frenetic burn-out, the researchers reported in the journal BMC Psychiatry.

'Boring jobs can lead to burn-out'

They adopted 'a passive coping strategy' -- which might explain why they had not left 'becoming ineffective in performing work tasks', Montero-Marin said.

However, he said that having a family could help protect workers against this type of burn-out.

"Having a family, partner or children can act as a protective 'cushion', because when people finish their day at work they leave their workplace worries behind them and focus on other kinds of tasks," he added.